


All through the night

by Vampiric_Charms



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Gen, Relationship Only Implied, Some angst and anxiety, aftereffects of war, daring rescues, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:01:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27647212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampiric_Charms/pseuds/Vampiric_Charms
Summary: Bo-Katan and her allies barely escape Mandalore after they resist Imperial occupation, but the journey to survival is never an easy one with an enemy so immense and powerful.  The Empire’s reach is far and Bo-Katan has very few friends who can offer help when even the bleakest hope is nearly out of sight.
Relationships: Bo-Katan Kryze & Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan Kryze/Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 13
Kudos: 77





	All through the night

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had this little idea since the end of _Clone Wars_ , but seeing our lovely (angry) Bo-Katan in _The Mandalorian_ pushed me to finally write it. Takes places not long after the Empire tries to take Mandalore, so pretty soon after _Clone Wars_ and Order 66. Apologies for any canonical inconsistencies; there’s so little information about this time in the universe, though I did as much research as I could.
> 
> Enjoy!

The old mining shuttle was falling apart, no ‘almost’ about it. They were running out of time. A single Imperial fighter was on their tail and she needed to find a place to land before they were shot down. And before the shuttle gave out.

“Hold on!” Bo-Katan shouted back to the other survivors. 

She banked the shuttle hard to the right when the TIE came from behind them. Only the one, but it was too close. There were cries and clattering behind her as people stumbled, and Ursa grabbed the back of the pilot’s chair. The other woman peered anxiously out the windscreen over Bo-Katan’s shoulder and they both watched as the TIE flew ahead, making to turn around for them again.

“Bo!” Ursa snapped, hand convulsing on the seatback as a barrage of fire skimmed across the shuttle's brittle side. 

“Yes, I _know_!” 

There was a moon nearby, Bo-Katan suddenly remembered. It was uninhabited, had a hostile atmosphere - but if they could just trick their pursuers into thinking they’d gone into hyperspace they might be safe there for long enough. The shuttle was incapable of actually making the jump, but the Imperials didn’t know that. 

She shoved on the throttle, sending the shuttle barreling straight on toward the TIE fighter’s advance. 

Ursa cursed behind her, leaning forward to watch as the little fighter came closer and closer. At the last second before a head-on collision, Bo-Katan pulled them up and slammed a button on the conn to release exhaust buildup from their stalling engines. The TIE peeled off when the pilot’s sensors were inpared and Bo-Katan took the opening to limp their shuttle away as quickly as she could. 

The moon was thankfully in their system - not one of Mandalore’s, but it was still close. If only they could make it before the Empire sent more reinforcements, which they would do soon. 

What was left of their trip was dicey. By the time Bo-Katan let the shuttle crunch down into a crater on the dark side of the moon, the hull was beyond repair after being buffeted by the currents of open space and shields were down to less than three percent.

“Hold tight, everyone,” she grumbled, staring out the cracked viewscreen and into the darkness outside. There was nothing out there. Or at least nothing that would help them; there was plenty that would kill them, though. “We might be here a while.” 

Ursa leaned close again, trying to keep her voice down so the others wouldn’t hear even as her words brimmed with growing irritation. “Life support is out.”

“I’m aware.”

“We won’t last five hours, Bo.”

“I _know_ that.”

“Well, do you have a plan? Or are we just going to wait here until we die?”

“Back off, Ursa, fuck.”

Bo-Katan let herself flop against the back of the chair and pulled off her helmet to run a shaking hand over her face. Too many of them were bleeding both outside and in, wounded from the vicious battle that led them to flee the planet. They had no food, no water, no medical supplies. They had survived the massacre, yes, but she knew far too clearly that there was a very good chance they wouldn’t survive much longer.

One by one, helmets were removed and dropped with a clang to the dirty metal floor. Dozens of worried Nite Owl faces looked to hers for orders, as well as many strangers that had joined their resistance along the way.

Letting out a huffing breath, she sat up again. Ursa was still staring at her and Bo-Katan glared back angrily, their tempers matching. “Of course I have a plan,” she finally said, voice sharp. 

And she did have one. It was a long-shot and quite possibly wouldn’t work, but she sure as all the hells wasn’t going to say so.

Ursa watched her with narrowed eyes for another few seconds and then turned, going back to join the others. Most of them were sprawled on the floor or hunched against the wall, breathing heavily in the damaged atmosphere. This ancient mining shuttle had only been used for transporting chunks of rock from mines on the surface that were long abandoned; there were no other seats aside from the pilot’s chair, and even that was barely held in. 

Returning her gaze to the inhospitable landscape, Bo-Katan opened the comm on her wrist and entered a code she had never used before.

xXx

Bo-Katan opened her eyes. She had no memory of lapsing into unconsciousness and she did not know where she was. For a brief, terrifying moment, she thought the Imperials had captured them, that they were all in danger. 

But then she took better stock of her surroundings - the biobed currently measuring her vitals, her helmet within arm’s reach on top of the blanket by her side. Someone had removed her breastplate and arm guards, but all the pieces were also nearby, ready to be donned again. This still didn’t explain where she was, but it certainly wasn’t a brig.

Bo-Katan had barely started to shift on the biobed before there was a shuffle across the medbay, and then yelling. She swung her booted feet to the ground and Ursa’s finger was immediately prodding at her chest.

“What were you thinking!”

Ursa was in her face the second Bo-Katan stood from the biobed. She smacked Ursa’s hand away, scowling when the other woman practically bared her teeth in anger. “What I was thinking,” Bo-Katan snapped irately, “is that we needed help. What was _your_ plan, then?”

“We shouldn’t have left Mandalore in the first place!” Ursa cried, throwing her hands up in the air. Bo-Katan could tell she wanted to break something, and her anger only intensified.

“Shouldn’t have left?” she repeated, seething. She pushed away from the bed, ignoring how dizzy she suddenly felt. “Shouldn’t have left! Ha!” Ursa glared at her as their voices rose, fury matched between them. The others in the medbay stared uncertainly. “I got you - all of you! - out of that gods forsaken mess!”

Ursa pointed at her again and Bo-Katan wanted to rip that finger right off her hand. “You forced us to run away with our tail between our legs!” she said, face blotchy with her rage. “We have abandoned our home! Our families!”

Bo-Katan stepped forward into Ursa’s space, not caring then if Ursa hit her or not. “They were murdering us! It was a fucking massacare and you know it! We would never have won if we stayed. Kriff, we all would have fucking _died_. But you know what?” she added coldly, eyebrows narrowed with her fury. “Go back, for all I care. Let the Empire have you. But then - you pledged loyalty to them already, didn’t you? Your whole clan is full of traitors.”

Ursa did hit her then, fist meeting her jaw in a solid punch. Bo-Katan reeled unsteadily when her head snapped back from the force, already dizzy with what she could only assume were injuries sustained before they fled, but she found her footing again quickly. Before she could land her own retaliatory blow, however, there was a firm hand on her shoulder, dragging her away.

She willingly allowed herself to be stopped, fully aware that she would kill Ursa then and there if she touched her with such violence again. Blood was hot under her skin as she watched one of her Nite Owls step between them. 

“You forget who you’re talking to,” she told Ursa, voice calm even as she raged. “I am the heir of Mandalore, and if you think I am going to sit back and let the Empire and their filth have it - you have lost your fucking mind. Whether you help me or not when the time comes, that’s up to you.”

“I liked you better when you were lieutenant of Death Watch,” Ursa spat as the other Mandalorian held her away. “At least then you were a warrior and not a scared little child who ran from confrontation.”

The hands on her shoulders tugged again before she could say anything scathing in return, the touch silently imploring Bo-Katan to take a step back before she maimed someone. She gave a last seething glare toward Ursa and finally turned to see who had the guts to hold her back.

“Take it easy, Lady Bo-Katan,” the stranger said sympathetically, using her title as an obvious attempt to placate her. “You still have some internal bleeding, let’s not upset all the work the doctors have already done for you.”

Bo-Katan landed her glare on the stranger, but as soon as she really took her in, her rigid fighting posture lost some of its tension. “Ahsoka?”

The Togruta, who was much taller and more fully grown than Bo-Katan remembered, smiled at her. “You called, I answered. Come on,” she added, tugging gently at Bo-Katan’s shoulder again. “Let’s go somewhere a bit more...quiet. We can catch up and figure out a plan.” When Bo-Katan hesitated, not wanting to leave her comrades, Ahsoka dropped her hand to Bo-Katan’s wrist instead, the touch kind. “Everyone is safe here, I promise.”

After a moment of Ahsoka staring at her somewhat reproachfully, Bo-Katan gave in and let herself be led away. They left the bright sterilization of the medbay and into a wide, equally bright corridor. Bo-Katan didn’t recognize the ship, and she was a bit surprised by how large it was as they made their way slowly to what could only have been Ahsoka’s small personal room. Ahsoka tapped her entry code into the datapad inset into the wall and the door slid open. She gestured for Bo-Katan to go inside first, which she did.

The room was considerably darker than the corridors, and it was only as the door slid shut behind them that she realized how badly her head hurt. But rather than collapse against the wall the way she wanted to, she turned to grin at Ahsoka. 

“Well you sure grew up,” she said with a little teasing.

Ahsoka smirked at her. “Are you going to smack my butt again?” she asked, showing a slip of teeth when her grin widened at the reference to their first meeting.

“Only if you want me to.”

Bo-Katan immediately hated herself for saying that, and she felt her cheeks burn for a very brief moment. But Ahsoka just laughed, not taking offence to how flirtatious it had sounded. “Sit down, Bo,” she said, pointing to the lower bunk of the two against the wall. “I can tell you don’t feel well. Though I can’t imagine why, after that bracing altercation with Ursa.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d come.” Bo-Katan looked at Ahsoka as she said this, pausing only for a moment before lowering herself to sit on the edge of the bed. Her entire body hurt now that the danger was past and she was able to relax even the slightest bit.

“Of course I came,” Ahsoka told her, sitting on the floor across from the bed and gracefully folding her legs under herself. “We shared that comm signal with each other for a reason, after all.”

“No, I mean - ” 

But Bo-Katan stopped, trying to sort through her churning thoughts after everything that had happened since the last fateful encounter with the Empire that forced them away. “I mean,” she tried again, “I was worried you might have died. With the other Jedi. There were so many rumors - I guess I wasn’t sure if you were still alive.”

“But you still called for me,” Ahsoka pointed out with a little chuckle. “So you must have had _some_ faith.” 

“Sure,” Bo-Katan agreed. “Faith, and a fair bit of desperation. Don’t tell Ursa that,” she said darkly, scowling again and staring down at her hands where they rested against her knees. She realized suddenly that she had left her armor in the medbay and she felt very naked without it. Her undershirt was filthy, stiff with dried sweat.

“Ursa will come around,” Ahsoka said warmly. “She’s just afraid, with her family still scattered. She won’t stay angry with you for long. I hope you can forgive her in return.”

Bo-Katan was silent, not sure but also not disagreeing with Ahsoka’s sentiment. “Where are we?”

“We’re still in the Outer Rim,” Ahsoka answered. “We hadn’t gotten too far from the moon before you woke up. The ship,” she said with a little wave around them, “is an Alderaanian freighter I borrowed for a…” She paused, and Bo-Katan could tell she was considering how much information to share. But then she continued, apparently having decided in Bo’s favor. “I’ve been on a small assignment for the Resistance. It was lucky I was already nearby, honestly. Though I would have come anyway. We’re heading back to Alderaan now.”

That got Bo-Katan’s attention and her head shot up regardless of her queasy stomach. “Alderaan? No.” She shook her head, starting to get angry again despite her best efforts. “No, that’s not what I wanted! I need to go back to Mandalore, I need to - ”

“Bo, stop.” 

Startled by the fierce command, she fell silent and Ahsoka continued. “You are in no shape to be going back into battle so soon. None of you are. I know you don’t want to leave, but we have no choice right now. Once we get all of you to safety, you can regather your forces and try again with greater success. But not right now. They’d just kill you, and I don’t want that to happen.”

“I thought Jedi weren’t supposed to get involved in Mandalorian politics,” she grumbled, knowing Ahsoka was right and furious about it.

“Yeah, well, I’m not a Jedi, am I? And I’m not getting involved in Mandalorian politics,” she said softly. “I’m getting involved with _you._ Not quite the same thing. Here, Bo,” Ahsoka murmured, getting to her feet again. “Let me take a look at your face. Your jaw is already starting to bruise.”

Bo-Katan tensed almost imperceptibly as Ahsoka approached, though she didn’t quite flinch when cool fingers tipped her face up toward the dim light. Ahsoka hummed as she studied Bo-Katan’s pale skin, rubbing a gentle fingertip over the newest injury. Bo-Katan raised her eyes somewhat defiantly, watching Ahsoka’s bright blue ones as she took in the damage.

It had been a very long time since anyone had touched her without the intent to harm, and Bo-Katan severely wanted to pull away. She didn’t. “Your markings have changed,” she said instead.

“What?” 

Ahsoka looked at her, their faces very near to one another, and Bo-Katan questioned her sanity for treading this same path again so soon. Just like her sister, too close to a Jedi. Or a not-Jedi, in this case, but it was still rather stupid, what she kept letting herself do. She gestured to her own forehead, not sure what else to say, but Ahsoka understood anyway.

Maybe understood too much. 

“Oh, yeah, they did.” She nodded, going back to prodding at Bo-Katan’s jaw. It was surprisingly painful for such a light touch. “Part of Togruta aging. They probably won’t change much more at this point.”

Ahsoka was quiet and Bo-Katan didn’t reply. Ahsoka finally released her, stepping over to a small metal desk riveted to the floor and pulling a standard-issue first aid kit out of a drawer. She came back, stepping between Bo-Katan’s knees so she would be close enough to rub a mentholated cream to the bruise. It felt better immediately, and Bo-Katan sighed, eyes unfocused on the striped lekku in front of her. Those had grown, too.

“I’m really sorry, Bo,” Ahsoka said quietly.

Bo-Katan raised her tired gaze up, and Ahsoka put both hands against her cheeks to cup her face. Her palms were large, warm, and Bo-Katan almost sighed again, not at all used to this nearness to another person. But Ahsoka was so sad, as they stared at each other, and Bo-Katan’s heart felt close to breaking as well.

“None of this should have happened,” Ahsoka continued, voice very soft. “I’m sorry you were dragged into it. I’m sorry Mandalore was dragged into it, too, so soon after you got it back.”

Quite suddenly and just as unbidden, Bo-Katan felt a tightness in her throat. She wanted to cry. Mostly out of frustration and anger, but also from despair. What was her life even worth now? Her planet had fallen. So many of her friends had been killed. She was a fugitive from her own home. She had failed them all. How had this even _happened_?

Ahsoka sat on the bed beside her and opened her arms, all the warning Bo-Katan had before she was engulfed in a hug.

“Please come with me to Alderaan,” Ahsoka whispered, voice close to Bo-Katan’s ear. “You’ll have your chance to take your home back, I promise, but - I don’t want you to die. You’re one of the last old friends I have, I can’t lose you. So please. Come with me, just for a little while.”

Everything in her told Bo-Katan to pull back, to push the embrace away and run to a shuttle, back to Mandalore and everything she had lost. But she held herself still, tucking her face down against Ahsoka’s shoulder beside the lek there. She deserved to be dead, for what she had allowed to transpire. It was a travesty, losing to the Empire the way they had. Her sister would never have allowed this to happen. 

She squeezed her eyes shut against the thought of Satine, horribly ashamed.

“Okay,” she finally agreed, her shame mounting until it was almost overwhelming. “Just until my people are healed. We can’t stay there.”

“I know.”

Bo-Katan realized, though, that not all of the survivors would even _want_ to go back, to enter another fruitless war where so many more of them would die. She would speak with them, offer them all a chance to leave or to stay on Alderaan with no repercussions or judgement. It was understandable, after everything, and she already didn’t hold a grudge for anyone wanting to start over elsewhere.

She also realized, though, without a shadow of a doubt, that she would go back. She would save Mandalore from the Empire and give her people freedom again.

She had to.

There was no other path Bo-Katan could take.


End file.
